An interactive voice response system (IVR) is a computer connected to a telephony network and providing integration between the two. The telephony network can be a plain old telephony system such as a line switched telephony network or a packet switched telephony network like a voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) network. An IVR typically runs a telephony application that controls the interaction of a user and the IVR. Such a voice application is a voicemail application controlling the interaction between a user and the computer, on its own or part of another voice interaction.
A voicemail telephony application requires the recording of audio messages directly into an IVR system over the telephone. This method of recording can be cumbersome when working with lengthy passages of speech, especially if a mistake is made while reading a passage. Often mispronouncing a word or coughing during a lengthy passage creates undesired audio data in the segment. Such undesired audio data (called artefacts below) can result in having to re-record the entire message which costs both time and money.
It would be useful to have a voice message system which did not require a complete re-record of the voice message.